Business Savvy, Star Power Blend

One weekend in July, Panthers season ticketholders who were taking their time to renew or had decided to abandon the team after its disappointing 2000-2001 season received a phone call.

A team representative was on the line, calling to encourage and cajole, answer questions, talk seat upgrades and otherwise sell the 2001-2002 Panthers.

But that team representative was not seated at National Car Rental Center, the Sunrise home of the hockey club and its administrative offices. Instead, that caller was an employee of Precision Response Corp., a Plantation-based company that provides service in customer relations and telemarketing for large corporations from American Express to British Airways.

It's not by coincidence that Precision Response, a company whose bread and butter is customers, would be working on the challenging task of trying to lure fans back, even as ticket prices remain high and there are no assurances that Pavel Bure and his brother Valeri will provide the injection the team needs on the ice.

After all, PRC CEO David Epstein is one of the South Florida businessmen who took ownership of the team in June.

Talk about using your resources. The makeup of the team's ownership group is no accident. When the longtime friends and business associates broached the idea of buying the team over meals in Weston, they also thought about what each could bring to ownership.

Their backgrounds are varied and don't all translate to sports team ownership, but altogether they add up to business acumen with a dose of celebrity.

"We all said, `What does each and every one of us bring that's uniquely different, that'll complement the team?'" said Jordan Zimmerman, CEO of Zimmerman & Partners Advertising, a Fort Lauderdale-based agency that has been making ads for the Panthers for the past two seasons. "Everyone was excited. Even though we're all successful in our established career paths, each one of us was able to bring something different [to the team]."

The group includes Bernie Kosar, former NFL quarterback; Mike Maroone, president of AutoNation; his father Al Maroone, retired chairman of Maroone Auto Group; Alan P. Cohen, CEO of Andrx, a Davie-based pharmaceutical company; his brother Steve Cohen, vice president of national sales for Andrx; and Elliot Hahn, Andrx president. H. Wayne Huizenga, chairman of Boca Resorts, the public company that sold the team to the new group, has retained a minority stake, but is not active in the operation of the team.

Weekly conference call meetings allow the group members to stay up to date and involved in decision-making. Individual owners have appeared before community groups and civic organizations and have participated in charity events.

Where their business doesn't translate into hockey ownership, their skills and longtime community connections have.

"What we've achieved in buying the Panthers is the ability of what we've done in the past and [the opportunity to] leverage that with the Panthers," Epstein said. "It's already started working with PRC calling existing fans, people who haven't renewed yet. ... Jordan Zimmerman brings this incredible advertising mind. That's really the benefit."

Zimmerman added, "Alan [Cohen] brings a good vision and good business understanding to be able to think outside the box. Bernie [Kosar] is a hometown hero, he's got great fan appeal and he has a true passion for the sports industry."

Comfortable with the limelight from his playing days, Kosar is the group's spokesman. He conducts the majority of interviews. He is also featured in the team's new "One goal. Win" ad campaign, produced by Zimmerman & Partners.

The work isn't done for free. The team pays PRC just as it does Zimmerman.

Zimmerman's advertising and marketing experience didn't just provide for commercials. His company is part of Omnicom Group, a holding company for some of the nation's largest advertising firms. Through that connection, he has been able to help steer the team to potential sponsorship partners.

His longtime connections helped the team tap Jeff Cogen as its chief operating officer, a newly created position. They have known each other for more than 20 years, meeting when Cogen, working for Ringling Bros., was one of Zimmerman's clients. Since then, Cogen has built up a successful resume of ticket operations for professional sports teams, most recently with the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers.

Cogen joined the team in August and has been working swiftly to boost season ticket sales and, he hopes, attendance at the arena. With a nearly 20 percent drop in season ticket sales to 8,200 this season in a 20,000-seat building, Cogen has a lot of work to do.

The Panthers kick off the 2001-02 season in Philadelphia tonight and play their first home game against the New York Islanders on Saturday.